Investigates Blog

They won’t talk: State officials withhold info on which health-care providers have H1N1 vaccine

You’re a high-risk patient. You need a swine flu vaccine. Your doctor has none. Where can you get help?

We’re hearing this anguished question over and over again. The Texas Department of State Health Services knows the answer — and isn’t sharing it.

Its Web site has the obligatory FAQ section, but this question isn’t on the list.

Another section of the site is labeled “H1N1 vaccine distribution,” with categories for allocations by county, to local health departments and to private providers. But there are no links — only the words “coming soon.”

Early this morning, my colleague Jeff Weiss asked state health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams: “Why does the state not post on its Web site the names of every provider that you’ve ordered vaccine shipped to and the amount of vaccine that you have had shipped there to date?”

Her only responses:
* “We are working on a county-by-county list of totals. Hopefully we will be able to post those numbers soon.”
* “Providers receiving vaccine at this point are getting amounts to serve their own patients. They are reaching out to their own high-risk patients and are quickly exhausting their supplies, which are limited right now due to national production.”

So all most people know is what we’ve been able to figure out so far: Dallas County’s health department is having a mass clinic tomorrow, aimed at high-risk people without insurance. And Farmers Branch entrepreneur Jeff Vitt (right) is selling vaccines for $20 a pop to anyone who walks through his door.

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